


Unrequited

by FractalBunny



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blood and Gore, Body Horror, Canon Compliant, Canon Related, Canon Universe, Gen, Graphic Depictions of Illness, Hanahaki Disease, Horror, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Language of Flowers, Love Flower, M/M, Pining Keith (Voltron), klangst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-01-12
Packaged: 2019-02-26 13:24:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13236654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FractalBunny/pseuds/FractalBunny
Summary: Keith gets pricked by the thorn of a very strange flower.!!!This will be updated eventually, I am a very busy college student and I also work full time!!!





	1. Chapter 1

"Guys, I'm getting weird readings from these plants." Pidge said, glancing around at the thick tangle of vines across the trees. "I'm not sure if we should go in here. There's no telling what they could be secreting from their thorns."

"We have to. One of Zarkon's outposts could be in this jungle." Shiro replied, crossing his arms. "How long would it take you to analyze what's on them?"

"I don't know, a couple days? Biological analysis can be tricky." She bit her lip. Keith studied the vines for a moment. They were covered in soft flowers that budded out like lilacs.

"These can't be that harmful. They're just plants." He reached out and tried to move one of the vines, gasping when a razor-sharp thorn pierced through his glove. "What the hell?" He pulled back to examine the wound. "Fuck, this stings!"

"Keith, why the hell did you touch it?" Lance hissed.

"Uh, guys, maybe we should head back to the ship. I'm not really in the mood to get stabbed by deadly plants." Hunk took a few steps backwards, trying to put distance between himself and the vines.

"Keith, you okay?" Shiro asked. Keith nodded, gritting his teeth. The wound hurt like hell, but he didn't want to worry anyone. "Good. Pidge, see if you can safely take a sample of this stuff and meet us back at the ship."

"Got it." She replied.

The other four walked back to the ship, Keith keeping his injured hand closed so that no one, especially Shiro, would see the damage. When they got back inside, he immediately went to his bedroom, removing his armor so that he could bandage his hand. He looked at the prick, which already seemed to be scabbing up, and sighed. With a little roll of gauze he made a makeshift bandage and tied it off.

When he rejoined the others, he noticed something was off. Everything looked normal except for one of the paladins. Lance, sweating from the heat of the planet beneath them, was sitting in front of a vent. His hair was being blown back. His eyes were shut with bliss. Keith suddenly felt nervous.

"Hey, Keith." Shiro was leaning back at the dining table with a drink. "Did you bandage your hand?" Keith held up his gauzed hand, smiling.

"Yep." He sat next to Shiro and propped his feet up on the table. "Is Pidge back?"

"Yeah, he got back a couple minutes ago. Hunk is helping him out." Keith nodded. Lance stood up and turned his head around to face Shiro.

"I need a shower. Shiro, are we gonna wait until Pidge is done doing...whatever he's doing before we go back down?" Lance put his hand on his hip, and for some reason, Keith felt a sudden heat in the pit of his stomach. Lance's edges softened; everything but him started to go blurry in Keith's eyes. He'd certainly checked Lance out before, but never so intently. Shiro said something, but Keith couldn't make the words out.  "The hell are you staring at, Mullet?"

"Huh?" Keith jumped in his seat. Everything went back to normal. "Oh, sorry. Spacing out." Lance rolled his eyes and walked out of the room. Keith's heart was pounding. He made eye contact with Shiro, who looked concerned.

"Keith, are you sure you're okay? There might have been something on that thorn-"

"I'm fine." Keith stood up and walked out of the room in the same direction Lance had gone.

* * *

Keith clutched his bayard intently as the training robot started up. The robot got into a fighting stance, and the two started to spar. Keith parried and blocked everything the robot sent his way with ease. He'd been through the program more times than he could count; he wanted to be prepared. The warmth he'd felt around Lance started to burn as he was knocked to the floor by the robot.

"Pause." Keith whimpered, clutching his stomach. He started to cough weakly, feeling something catch in his throat. His bayard dropped to the ground as he got up and ran towards the bathroom.

When he got there, he hunched over the toilet, his coughs becoming painful. He felt his throat close; or perhaps there was something in it. He coughed harder, tears starting to stream out of his eyes. A single yellow flower shot out of his mouth into the toilet water. Cringing, Keith picked it up to examine it. It looked like an acacia blossom.

"What the fuck?" Keith whispered, turning the wet flower around in his hand. He threw it back into the toilet and flushed. He stood up, legs shaking, and walked towards his room.

"Keith! Hey!" Shiro shouted from behind him. Keith turned around to see Shiro walking up to him with the red bayard in his hand. "Did you forget something in the training room?" When he got closer to Keith, his expression darkened. "Are you sure you're okay? You look pale."

"Yeah, shit, thanks." Keith took the bayard from Shiro's hand. "The training bot got me in the stomach and knocked me over. I almost threw up, that's it." Without waiting for Shiro's response, he went back to his room and crawled under his blankets.

Keith didn't know where he'd swallowed a whole flower without knowing. Was the food goo reforming into flowers? Did someone shove it down his throat in his sleep? Had it somehow flown into his mouth without him knowing? He choked down some water and tried to fall asleep.

As he dreamed, things happened to his body that he couldn't imagine, but he had no idea.

In his purple dreamscape, there was only one other person there: Lance, seated on the ground, covered in blue roses.

"Keith?" Dream-Lance asked, tilting his head. "What do you want?"

"I...I don't know." Keith looked around at the bleak purple landscape, and then down at his hands, and then back at Lance. The fuzziness started to appear around the edges of his vision again. "Lance, why is everything but you so blurry?"

"Why would I know?" Dream-Lance crossed his arms. "Maybe that's how it should be. I _am_ the only thing worth looking at here anyways."

"Yeah." Keith blushed. "You are, I guess."

He woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. His body shivered despite being draped with blankets. Keith's eyes were streaming with tears. He wiped them and turned the lights on, looking in the mirror. His skin was ghost-white, his eyes were bloodshot, and his hand was burning.

"What the fuck?" He whispered.


	2. Chapter 2

Pidge's analysis was inconclusive, but another flyover revealed that the outpost reported to them didn't exist, so they continued on.

* * *

 "Are you okay?" Keith grasped Lance's hand and pulled him up a little so he could sit upright.

"We did it." Lance rasped. "We are a good team." He smiled. Keith smiled back.

Keith felt the pain that had been growing in his hand, lungs, and stomach start to ebb away for a moment. Lance's breathing slowed. They stared at each other for a few silent moments before Lance's eyes rolled into the back of his head. Keith caught him before he fell. His vision was so blurry that everything looked black except for Lance, like the two of them were in their own world together.

He had gotten accustomed to the blurriness that always accompanied Lance, but this was new. Darkness was new.

Since the others were occupied, Keith just sat there for a few moments, holding Lance close to his chest in their shared black expanse. The pain was completely gone. Keith had been coughing up and vomiting acacia petals for days, but now his lungs and stomach felt clear. His wound, now healed, didn't throb with phantom pain.

That made what happened after sting so much more.

* * *

 "Are you asking me out on a date?" Lance raised an eyebrow at Allura, or so Keith thought, considering everything was blurred and dark around Lance's hunched body.

"Classic." Keith immediately felt pain shoot through his entire body, worse than before but somehow more bearable.

After Lance was deemed okay, he left without a word, breaking into a run in the hallway. His mouth started to taste metallic. When he got into the bathroom, he hunched over the toilet, a routine for him at that point. His body shuddered and heaved, and he vomited out a new flower. He pulled it out of the bile and stared at it for a moment. A mangled daffodil stared back. He swallowed painfully, feeling blood trickling down his throat.

His body started up again, this time forcing him to cough. Quarter-sized, bloodied yellow petals shot out with every cough, landing in the toilet and across the floor. Keith felt like he was choking to death. He wanted to scream, but nothing came out. His entire body tremored. When the coughing stopped, Keith laid on the floor, unsure if he should move or not.

Why was he hacking up flowers every time Lance so much as glanced at anyone but him? Clearly, being nice to Lance and having him be nice in return alleviated the constant burning pain. Getting Lance to be nice to him, however, wouldn't be an easy task; he'd invented a rivalry between the two that Keith barely understood despite being the other half of it. Sure, they butted heads, sometimes literally, but Keith did care about Lance more than the Blue Paladin would probably ever know.

Keith decided to try.

* * *

"We had a bonding moment! I cradled you in my arms!" Keith's voice cracked as he felt petals start to rise in his throat.

"Nope. Don't remember. Didn't happen." Lance grinned and shook his head. Keith's lungs felt like they were on fire. When they all dismissed themselves to their rooms, Keith found himself going to the bathroom again, blood starting to drip out of his nose. He smeared it with his glove, praying that he wouldn't run into anyone.

"Night, Keith!" Hunk called from behind him. Keith swore silently to himself.

"Night, Hunk." He said back, trying not to sound suspicious.

"Hey, wait up." Hunk did a half-jog to catch up despite Keith picking up his pace. "Man you walk fast...hey, is your nose okay?"

"Yeah, it's just...dry in here." Keith sniffed. "I was gonna go to the bathroom and clean it up."

"Oh, yeah, Lance was complaining that his skin's a nightmare. He looks the same to me, though." Keith cringed at the mention of Lance's name. "Well, night, buddy. Hope that nosebleed stops soon."

"Me too." Keith replied, forcing a laugh. Hunk's bedroom door shut behind him and Keith broke into a run, but when he got in the bathroom, his worst nightmare was inside.

"Hey." Lance was brushing his teeth. Time seemed to slow down; Keith thought he was going to faint from the petals in his throat, but Lance just looked so... _perfect_. Keith tried to swallow the petals down and keep a neutral expression. "Are you just gonna stand there, or..."

"No, I...uh..." Keith took his hand away from his nose. "Nosebleed."

"Oh, man. Let me get you some tissues or something." Lance grabbed a coarse paper towel and handed it to Keith. "Here, use this while I look for something else." Keith held the paper towel up to his nose, feeling the petals slide back down his throat while he watched Lance search for tissues. "These look like some sort of space tissue. They're orange but they should do the job." Lance handed a couple to Keith.

"Thanks." Keith choked out.

"And hey, whether that bonding moment or whatever happened, I'm glad you cared." Lance opened up a small jar of lotion. "I expected less from you." Keith felt a pang in his chest, but the pain from the flowers faded away. Lance was framed in a soft blue glow in the darkness.

"Thanks?" Keith raised his eyebrows. Lance's backhanded compliment was a compliment nonetheless. "I'm glad you're okay, Lance."

"Me too." Lance didn't look away from the mirror. Their moment was over as abruptly as it started. Keith didn't know why he had to have eyes for someone so self-centered. He backed out of the bathroom and went back to his room.

That night he had his second dream about blue-rosed Lance.

"Welcome back." This time, Dream-Lance was draped with white and yellow tulips and laid on the bare purple ground, toying with the petals between his fingers.

"What's happening to me?" Keith whined, dropping to his knees to look at Dream-Lance better.

"Nothing out of the ordinary for someone who pricked his finger on a sentient plant." Dream-Lance sat up, the tulips falling around him.

"What?" Keith leaned forward. "What do you mean, _sentient_?"

"Well, more like parasitic." Dream-Lance got on all fours, crawling towards Keith on his hands and knees. "I'm in your head, Keith. But you like it, don't you? Don't I make him look so much more beautiful?"

"He doesn't need a glow to look beautiful." Keith realized what he said, immediately blushed, and turned his head away from Dream-Lance.

"Did you know that before, though?" Dream-Lance kneeled in front of Keith, grasped his face, and pulled him closer. "Look at me, Keith."

"I'm looking." Keith growled. Dream-Lance started to lean in, tracing a finger down Keith's neck and collarbone. He tried to pull back, but Dream-Lance's grip was too strong.

Before their lips met, Keith woke up with bloody moonflowers stuck to his pillow.


	3. Chapter 3

The entire time Lance lusted after a yellow alien girl, Keith thought his chest was going to burst open. Not in a nice way, more in the way of his organs spilling out onto the ground with him dying in a pool of his own blood. He choked back petals and decided to flirt with the girl's partner, Rolo, to try and get back at Lance for slowly killing him, but it didn't seem to work.

Keith was starting to getting fed up with Lance's shit.

"Hey Lance, I got your lion back." Keith leaned back with a soft smile on his face.

"Thank you, Keith. Now can you come and unchain me?" Keith's chest felt warm. The way Lance said his name sent shivers down his spine.

"What's that? I, uh...you're cutting out...I cant-I can't hear you." Keith just wanted Lance to keep talking to him. The grin stayed plastered on his face as Lance went into a panic.

"Oh, come on! I thought we bonded!" That was an arrow through the heart. "Keith? Buddy? My man?" Keith would accept being Lance's "buddy" for the time being; any amount of friendliness towards him blotted away the pain that only seemed to grow worse every day.

* * *

"Keith, can we talk?" Shiro asked. They had just healed the Balmera and gotten back on the ship, but Keith lagged behind, one arm clutching his stomach loosely.

"Yeah, what about?" Keith asked in return, straightening his back to hide his pain.

"Here, let's...let's go somewhere private." Shiro put his hand on the small of Keith's back and started to guide him away from the others. He led him into the training room and shut the door behind them.

"What's going on?" Keith crossed his arms.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but you've been acting different lately." Shiro looked Keith up and down. "You look like...like you're in pain, Keith. Is everything okay? Did you hurt something? I'm sure that Allura and Coran have some sort of medicine that can help you."

"No, I'm fine." Keith averted his eyes. "Just...just tired after everything we went through with the Balmera. Me and Lance got into some trouble, and...there were falling rocks, I got hit by a few small ones but it's just...it's just bruised."

"Are you sure?" Shiro raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Keith forced a smile.

"That's another thing I wanted to talk about, though. You and Lance. Is...is something going on there, Keith?"

"What?" Keith choked out.

"I've seen the way you look at him." Shiro laughed at Keith's panicked expression. "Don't worry, I don't think anyone else has noticed. I just keep a close eye on you kids." Shiro ruffled Keith's hair. "Don't be afraid to say something, okay? I think Lance respects you a lot more than you know."

"Yeah, right." Keith rolled his eyes. "He thinks...he thinks we're rivals or whatever."

"Well, he wouldn't make himself your rival if he wasn't a little scared of you, right?" Shiro smirked. "Take care of yourself and get some rest, okay?"

"Yeah." Keith smiled back, genuinely this time. Shiro was right; Lance wouldn't choose someone he didn't respect to be his rival. That just wasn't how rivalries worked, right?

Shiro left Keith to his own devices, and the first thing he did was fast-walk to the bathroom. When he got inside, he shut and locked the door behind him, kneeled next to the toilet, and started a process he had become very acquainted with.

His body convulsed and shuddered, his diaphragm contracting against his will. Small, delicate white petals poured out of his mouth into the toilet, sometimes accompanied with blood and bile. Keith's eyes shut and started streaming as his nose dripped blood. It stopped for a moment and he gasped for air, immediately sent back into shaking fits accompanied with uncontrollable hacking. His coughs went dry as he ran out of flowers.

The snowdrop petals were flushed down.

Keith decided to take a shower to try and rid himself of the blood all over his face and neck. He stripped down to nothing and stared at himself in the mirror. Everything looked fine somehow. He traced his fingers over his skin, remembering what Dream-Lance had told him.

_"I'm in your head, Keith."_

He started pulling his eyelids back, tilting his head back and looking up his nose, and opening his mouth to look down his throat. Everything looked undeniably normal. Keith jumped when someone knocked on the door.

"Hey, what's the deal? Open the door!" Shit. It was Lance. Keith was completely naked.

"Hang on!" Keith yelled back. "I'm about to get in the shower. I'm gonna unlock the door, but don't come in here until you hear the water running, okay?"

"Okay." Keith could hear Lance impatiently tapping his foot. He unlocked the door, gathered up his clothes, set them by the shower, and then stepped in. As soon as he turned the water on, Lance came in. Keith thought his heart was going to beat out of his chest. Everything Lance was doing was amplified; Keith could hear every echo of his footsteps, every bristle on his toothbrush moving, every small breath going in and out of his nose.

It was driving Keith up the fucking wall.

He heard the toilet seat lift, followed by a quiet gasp.

"What the hell?" Lance whispered, but to Keith it sounded like a scream. "Uh, Keith? Did you notice all the blood under the toilet seat?" Keith went cold.

"Uh, what? No!" He felt a pang in his stomach at how disgusted Lance sounded.

"It looks like...like someone was throwing up blood!" Lance sounded just as panicked as Keith felt. "Who could it've been?"

"I uh...I don't know." Keith started to shiver under the hot stream of water.

"Who would hide something like that?" Lance whispered to himself, Keith's ears somehow picking it up. "Hey, you've been in here for like ten minutes. Are...are you okay?" Keith's heart melted. Lance sounded genuinely worried about him. "Keith? You okay in there?"

"What? Yeah. I'm fine." Keith swallowed hard.

"Okay...I hope whoever left this on here is okay. Shit." Lance laughed softly. "I'd probably freak out and not tell anyone if I was throwing up blood, too."

Keith had to lean against the wall of the shower from the absolute ecstasy that made him feel.

* * *

"Keith. Welcome back." Dream-Lance was covered in honeysuckle and mallow. For once, he was standing, with the flowers weaved into his clothes and hair. "How are you feeling?"

"You know how I'm fucking feeling." Keith hissed.

"Is he loud, now? The only thing you can hear?" Dream-Lance grinned. "I'm only trying to help you, Keith. You thought he was handsome from day one. I'm just trying to push you in the right direction." He pulled one of the mallow flowers out of his hair and started plucking the petals off.

"What, if I kiss him or something can you infect him too?" Keith snapped. "Not a fucking chance, uh..." Keith realized he didn't know the name of the strange thing infecting him; it was just a messed up version of Lance in his mind.

"Just call me the man of your dreams." Dream-Lance winked. "I'm really channeling Lance here. Give me credit."

"Get out of my head." Keith narrowed his eyes.

"Hmm...no." Dream-Lance closed his eyes. "You pricked your finger, you pay the consequences. I'm just the vessel." His eyes snapped open, and he walked up to Keith, grasping his chin. "Boo."

Keith woke up with moonflower petals scattered on his pillow again. He was drenched in sweat and shaken to the core. Hopeless, he pulled the blankets over his head and began to sob.


	4. Chapter 4

Keith was exhausted.

Everyone else was exhausted, too. Being on the run from Zarkon's forces would send anyone into a downward spiral. However, with the teludav broken, they were finally forced to rest.

Granted, Keith had been slowly suffocating, so he was by far in the worst shape out of everyone. His trips to the bathroom had become more frequent and more bloody. Most recently, he'd thrown up flowers that were so bloody that they were nearly unrecognizable. They looked vaguely like marigolds. Keith had no clue how he was still alive after losing so much blood; the toilet looked like a murder scene. He shakily flushed the toilet and went to wash his face off. When he turned the water on, it started to blur. It started to phase between being clear and being a deep purple.

"What the hell?" He whispered, narrowing his eyes. The water finally stabilized and became clear again, so he decided to take a chance and wash his hands. Suddenly, his vision flashed, and for a moment it looked like his hands were being doused in a sticky mixture of blood and various flower petals. Keith yanked his hands out, splashing the water all over his shirt.

He knew Dream-Lance was fucking with him, trying to scare him into submission. Keith sighed and walked back to the sink, hands trembling.

* * *

Keith caught the elevator door just in time before it closed, but ended up face to face with Lance.

"Huh? What the heck do you think you're doing?" Lance had purple rings under his eyes; he'd clearly had a rough few days, too.

"Allura said there's a pool. I'm gonna go check it out. What do you think you're doing?" Keith threw Lance's question back at him. He wasn't in the mood to vie for positive attention, flowers or not. Lance sighed.

"Same thing." The elevator door closed.

"Look, you stay on one side of the pool and I'll stay on the other, and we'll be far, far away from each other. Very...far...away." Keith growled. Side-eyeing Lance was already starting to vignette his vision, and that familiar blue glow was starting to form. The elevator stopped and the lights shut off with no warning.

"Uh..." Lance shuffled around, but Keith couldn't quite see what he was doing. He couldn't see anything.

"Shit." Keith muttered. With Lance no longer focused on him, he was starting to feel sick. "We've gotta get out of here."

"Yeah, but is this like an Earth elevator? Y'know, with the hatch on the top?" Lance sounded panicked; was he scared of being trapped?

"Well, I guess we'll have to find out." Keith could just barely brush his fingertips on the ceiling. "Dammit, I can't reach."

"Here, I can." Lance was suddenly very close to Keith, making him feel warm. A blue glow appeared around Lance's silhouette as he pressed on the ceiling. Keith's jaw fell open in awe; he wanted to reach out and grab Lance and just hold onto him. A harsh light flooded the elevator as Lance popped the hatch open. "Well, I guess all elevators are the same, huh Keith?"

"What?" Keith blinked a few times and the blue glow was gone. "Uh, yeah."

"Here, I'll boost you up and you can climb up there and pull me up, okay?" Lance knitted his fingers together. Keith tentatively stepped on, then shifted his full weight once he could tell that Lance's hands wouldn't give. He clambered through the hatch, took a few breaths, and reached his hand down for Lance. When Lance's hands took his, he couldn't help but blush; his thin fingers were incredibly soft. Keith started pulling until Lance could get a grip on the roof of the elevator and pull himself through. Lance gave Keith a small smile. "Thanks, Keith." Keith was sent back to the last time Lance sincerely thanked him when he retrieved the blue lion from Rolo and Nyma.

"Yeah, no problem." Keith heard the obvious huskiness in his voice and internally cringed. "So, how the hell do we get out of here?"

"We could always try climbing up?" Lance looked up the seemingly endless elevator shaft. Keith gasped quietly; the way Lance gazed in wonder made his breath catch in his chest. "Geez, this thing goes forever. Let's hope there's a vent or something, huh?"

"How would we climb?" Keith asked. "There's no holds."

"Hmm..." Lance pursed his lips. Keith's chest burned. "We could always go up, back to back?" He turned around and motioned for Keith to do the same. They linked arms and started their ascent.

Keith felt an uncontrollable urge to push as hard as he could against Lance's back, to be as close to Lance as he could possibly be. He thought it wasn't noticeable, considering his smaller frame didn't have as much power, but Lance started to falter, losing his rhythm.

"It's right, then left. You're off." Keith snapped.

"You're off! And shoving too hard!" Lance whined, pushing harder against Keith.

"You're not shoving hard enough!" Keith shoved back.

"I should be at the pool right now!" Lance gave up and the two returned to the center of the shaft.

"Would you stop whining?" Keith felt himself getting choked up from upsetting Lance. He saw a small panel hinged on the wall. "Look!" The two looked at the panel, looked at each other, and grinned. They climbed up the last ten feet to the panel and Keith kicked it in, using his momentum to pull Lance in behind him. The two slid down, caught a glimpse of the pool, and slammed down onto the ground.

"What the heck?" Lance muttered.

"Stupid Altean pools." Keith crossed his arms. The pool was somehow upside down, suspending the water inside. Keith shook his head as the water started to turn purple and cloud up, forcing the hallucination out of his head.

"You look like you just saw a ghost." Lance said. "Did you hit your head or something?"

"I'm fine." Keith growled. He really was feeling fine; Lance expressing any minute amount of concern stopped the constant pain. However, that didn't keep him from getting irritated by Lance's grating personality. Dream-Lance could try his hardest, but Keith would _never_ fall hard for Lance.

* * *

"You're mad at me." Dream-Lance had a bunch of love-lies-bleeding blooms on his head, and he twirled one around his finger like a lock of hair.

"I'm always mad at you. You're a fucking parasite." Keith wasn't even looking at the spectre, keeping his chin up and looking at the bare lilac sky.

"Well, what do you want me to do? Stop being a parasitic plant?" Dream-Lance crossed his arms and grinned, showing a mouth of razor-sharp thorns rather than teeth. He creeped up to Keith, grasping at his jacket and pulling their faces closer. "You _like_ him."

"So what if I do?" Keith narrowed his eyes. "You can't make me do anything."

"Silvacea."

"What?"

"Silv-ah-see-uh." Dream-Lance sounded out. "My name. I figure I've known you what, at least a couple months now? I'm not sure how time passes, to be quite honest."

"Glad we're on a first-name basis." Keith mused. "As I was saying, you can't make me do anything, _Silvacea_."

"Christ." Silvacea rolled his eyes.

"I'm serious." Keith grabbed Silvacea by the throat, making his eyes bulge. "I don't care if you look like Lance. I'm not afraid to fucking kill you. I don't give a shit that you're a parasite. _Get the hell out of my head_." Silvacea snickered, reeling into a full-on laugh.

"You think you're in control?" He sighed, wiping his eyes. "That's cute."

Keith awoke gasping for air, blood dribbling out of his mouth onto the pillow, a pool of bloody anemone flowers across the bed and on the floor.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man...Silvacea is getting serious, huh?
> 
> I got his name by blending the Latin word for forest with the Portuguese word for herb. The more you know!


	5. Chapter 5

"Is the princess with you?"

"Yes."

"Like, _with you_ , with you, or..." Lance's voice trailed off as Hunk started to say something. Keith expected the onslaught of blood and flowers he'd grown used to, but nothing came. If anything, Lance's concern about Keith and Allura growing together was...calming? He took a deep breath and rejoined the team.

However, they soon learned that Zarkon was tracking them through the black lion, making Shiro the main threat to their peace. Keith approached him in the hall when everything was over, cringing when he noticed that Shiro was noticeably upset.

"Hey, Shiro?" Keith's voice was soft.

"Yes?" Shiro forced a smile.

"Are you...okay?"

"I'm...I'm okay. I think I just need to work on my bond with the black lion." Shiro put his hand on Keith's shoulder, his version of a hug. Keith broke it by going in for a real hug.

"Shiro, I need to tell you about something." He started to tear up, his fingertips digging into Shiro's back. "Can we go somewhere private?"

"Yeah, yeah." Shiro awkwardly wrapped his arms around Keith, returning the hug. "We can go to the training room."

When the two entered the training room, Keith immediately broke into a full-on sob. He wiped at his face with his gloves, trying to regain his composure.

"Shit, sorry, give me a second." He sniffed hard and stood up straight, but the tears kept coming. "Fuck, I'm losing my fucking mind..." Keith leaned back against the wall and slowly slid down until he was sitting on the floor. Shiro sat down in front of him, biting his lip. "Okay, do you remember that planet we went to? We had to leave because the vines on the trees were too thick."

"Yeah?" Shiro cocked an eyebrow.

"Well, I pricked my finger on a thorn. And ever since, I've...I've been sick." Keith sniffled, finally letting out emotions he'd been bottling up for weeks. "I keep throwing up."

"Have you talked to Allura or Coran about this? It might be some sort of...space virus." Shiro crossed his arms. For once, he looked unsure.

"No, I'm not done." Keith looked up, the bags under his eyes turning even darker in the light. "This...this _thing_ keeps popping up in my dreams. It says its name is Silvacea, and that it's some sort of parasite that got into me when I pricked my hand." He sighed, a tear rolling down his cheek. "It's real, Shiro, it doesn't feel like a dream. This thing is in my fucking brain."

"Shit." Shiro's eyes were wide. "Has it given you any hints about how to get rid of it, or something?"

"I..." Keith blinked a few times. "When...when Lance is nice to me, the pain goes away. When he doesn't give a shit about me, I start throwing up."

"Hm." Shiro smirked. "So, you throw up a lot, huh?"

"Yeah." Keith gave a pained laugh. "It fucking burns, man. It's this...this mix of blood and vomit and flower petals."

"Flower petals?" Shiro asked.

"I have no clue." Keith leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. "I'm fucking losing it. I don't know how I lose so much blood every day and stay alive. Sometimes I wish that the petals would just choke me and it would end." He laughed harder, tears rolling down his cheeks. "Because this fucking thing wants me to like, realize how incredible Lance is, and that's just not possible. He's cute and all, but he's hardly a good person."

"I don't know, Keith." Shiro moved to sit next to him. "If you give him a chance, it might be worth it. He seems like a really smart kid."

"Lance? Smart?" Keith grinned. "You're joking."

"Well, you know what?" Shiro put his arm around Keith's shoulders. "I bet he'll surprise you."

"Yeah, right." Keith sighed. "It's hard not to blame him for all the fucking pain I'm going through."

"Just try to keep him and...this parasite separate. Lance isn't doing this on purpose. It's obvious that he's just a little scared of you. Remember what I said about the whole 'rival' thing?" Keith nodded. "Maybe you should try and reach out to him. I think you guys have a lot in common, and if him being nice to you reverses whatever's going on, it's worth a shot."

When Shiro disappeared, Keith cried the hardest.

* * *

Keith stared at the black lion intently, hoping that somehow, it could bring Shiro back. He could barely stand up straight with the sharp pains in his stomach that had only grown worse since his talk with Shiro. Lance was undoubtedly impossible to interact with sometimes. He heard footsteps behind him, but didn't turn around. One single set of footsteps slowly made its way towards him, soft but not tentative.

"Hey, man." Lance's voice sent a shiver down Keith's spine. "Listen, we all miss Shiro. I remember what a thrill it was just to meet him for the first time when the two of us carried him out of that Garrison hospital." Keith almost smiled at the memory; that was when he'd met Lance for the first time. The others joined them. "You're not the only one hurting, man. We're all right there with you. But you know that he would be the first one to tell us that we have to move on." Keith finally turned and made eye contact with him. Lance, just as Shiro had predicted, was surprising him. Nothing went black around Lance, there was only a soft blue glow around him and a gentle blur at the edges of Keith's vision.

"Keith, I know exactly how you feel. But our mission is bigger than any one individual. Even those who are...completely irreplaceable." Allura added. Keith just barely heard her; her voice was drowned out from just looking at Lance. He looked at the ground.

"I know you're right." He whispered. Everyone looked back up at the black lion. "We have to figure out how to reform Voltron."

For once, Keith wasn't reeling from an interaction with Lance. He almost felt a genuine connection to him. Lance put his hand on Keith's shoulder for a moment as the others walked away. Keith looked back at him, and the two made brief eye contact. Darkness consumed everything around Lance, leaving only him in Keith's view.

"Let's go to bed, huh?" Lance asked. Keith had to go over the question a few times in his head.

"Y-yeah." The two went their separate ways towards their rooms, Keith's heart pounding out of his chest. For once, he didn't feel like Silvacea was forcing him to enjoy Lance's company. He'd looked into Lance's ocean-blue eyes and seen someone he wouldn't mind getting a little closer to.

* * *

"Hm." Silvacea barely even looked like Lance this time around - the whites of his eyes had turned black, his irises were green, his teeth were still thorns, and in lieu of hair he was sprouting long, thin leaves. "Hm hm hm."

"What?" Keith had his back turned to the parasite. Silvacea put both of his hands on Keith's shoulders and rested his forehead on the back of Keith's head.

"I'll be so sad when I lose you. This has really been a romance for the ages." Silvacea sighed. "Oh well, I'll just float through the air and latch on to someone else. No big deal."

"You're not losing me yet." Keith crossed his arms. "I'll figure out how to get rid of you. I promise you that."

"Good luck." Silvacea softly kissed the back of Keith's head, making him shudder. "Just remember, _I'm only trying to help you_."

For the first time in a while, Keith woke up with a clean pillow.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am HERE for a touchy Shiro/Keith bromance don't fight me on this one


	6. Chapter 6

"No." Keith deadpanned. "I don't accept this." He briefly made eye contact with Lance, whose worried face made his throat burn.

"You must." Allura kept her composure. "The black lion has chosen you."

"I can't replace Shiro!" Keith knitted his brows together, partially with pain, partially with frustration. "You guys were right, I'm the loner. I'm not the leader Shiro thought I was." Lance was suddenly right in front of him, and placed his hand on Keith's shoulder. Keith gasped as the touch sent warmth down his right arm and glanced up at Lance. He tried his hardest not to blush as he watched Lance's eyelashes flutter while he thought about what he was going to say. Everything seemed to go in slow motion for the few moments it took for Lance to gain his composure.

"Keith, no one can replace Shiro." Lance looked at the floor. "But the black lion wouldn't choose anybody it didn't feel was worthy to lead Voltron. I respect its choice, and you should too." Keith realized his jaw was hanging open and quickly shut it. He looked away from Lance, releasing himself from seeing all black and finally being able to look at the others. Keith turned around, breaking his contact with Lance and leaving his shoulder ice cold.

"But who's gonna fly the red lion?" He said softly, seemingly making eye contact with the black lion. It beckoned him. It terrified him.

* * *

Keith went to his room afterwards. He took a seat on his bed and heaved a deep sigh. Weak coughs followed it, splattering blood into his hands. Even when Lance was nice to him, sometimes there was still blood. The worst part was that he was starting to crave Lance's kindness, not because of Silvacea but on his own. He was starting to feel weaker. Sicker. His head pounded most days, leaving him irritable towards everyone else in the castle.

That wouldn't work now that he was the black paladin.

No, Shiro was the black paladin. Keith was just filling in. He was just...the pilot of the black lion. That sounded better.

* * *

When they formed Voltron to fight Lotor off, Keith finally understood what the "Voltron feeling" really was.

He had only ever felt connected to Shiro, the head, and Pidge, the other arm. Keith had never felt a psychic link to Lance or Hunk. But now, he felt everything. He could feel Allura's excitement at finally being a part of Voltron. He could feel Hunk's shared excitement when he mirrored it back.

The strangest part was being inside Lance's head. Lance didn't seem excited. He seemed uneasy as he inserted his bayard to form the sword that took down the galra cruiser. He seemed out of his depth for the first time since Keith had met him in the garrison hospital.

However, despite his deep-seated discomfort, Keith felt Lance perk up a little as they went back towards the castle. As Keith insisted he wasn't going to push the team harder than they could take, he felt a warmth spread through his body. Lance's warmth.

"Roger that, team leader." Lance raised his eyebrow; Keith could feel it. He was hoping that Lance wouldn't feel the stupid grin on his face.

They weren't 'rivals' anymore; they were a team.

* * *

"Hey, Keith, wait up." Keith stiffened at Lance's voice. It had been about an hour since they had gotten back onto the ship. He had started to feel nauseated, so he was making his way to the bathroom. It was, quite possibly, the worst time Lance could have approached him.

"Hey." Keith's voice was rough. He was holding back some sort of flower he'd never felt before.

"Listen, I just wanted to say...thanks. For listening to me back there on Puig." Lance smiled. "I...Shiro didn't really take me seriously. I could tell."

"Are you joking?" Keith raised an eyebrow. "He absolutely did."

"You don't need to try and make me feel better, man, don't worry." Lance sighed and looked down. Keith felt his bones turn to ice. Darkness crept around the edges of his vision. He could've sworn that he felt exactly what Lance was feeling.

"I'm not doing that at all." Keith crossed his arms. "I'm serious." Lance laughed softly.

"Thanks again, Keith." He made eye contact with Keith, who immediately started to shake. Lance looked concerned, but Keith turned and sprinted to the bathroom. "Keith!" He heard Lance call after him.

Keith stumbled into the bathroom and forgot to close the door behind him in his urgency. He started to vomit blood and flowers, interspersed with coughs filled with thin flower petals. Lance tentatively appeared in the doorway and slowly crept in, shutting the door behind him. He turned away and waited for Keith's coughing to stop.

"Keith?" Lance sounded terrified. That made Keith feel like he was about to do the last two minutes over again.

"Yeah?" A drop of saliva mixed with blood ran down Keith's chin. He felt disgusting.

"What the hell?" Lance's eyes narrowed, fixed on Keith's. Keith felt the room start to disappear around them. "You've been throwing up blood? Are you the same person who threw it up last time?"

"I..." Keith's eyes filled with tears. "I...uh..." He shakily stood up and flushed the toilet. A bouquet of honeysuckles swirled down and out of sight. Lance was speechless. Keith walked to the sink and took his fingerless gloves off to wash the blood off of his face. Tears started to stream down his face.

"Keith." Lance put his hand on Keith's shoulder, and he turned around only to lock with Lance's strikingly blue eyes. "Are you okay?"

Keith stayed silent.

" _Keith_." Lance waited for a few moments before sighing and grabbing a washcloth. He wet it and then grasped Keith's chin. "Hold still." Keith tried his hardest not to blush as Lance wiped at his still bleeding nose with the cloth. "If you don't wanna tell me what's wrong, fine, but...take care of yourself, okay?"

"Yeah." Keith choked out.

"I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to. I get it." Lance looked away and swallowed hard. "We all have shit we don't like talking about."

"Thanks." Keith wiped the tears out of his eyes.

"I owed you, right? After you took my advice out there. We're even." Lance wiped at Keith's nose one more time before handing him the washcloth. "Maybe you'll owe me a favor soon." He gave Keith a wink before he left the bathroom.

Keith sniffled, clutching the bloody cloth in his hands like it was solid gold. He would have never expected Lance to become his closest friend in the absence of Shiro.

* * *

"Silvacea?" Keith's dream was taking place in complete blackness. "Come on, asshole, you always pop up when shit like this happens."

"I'm here." A voice croaked. "I'm here."

"Where?" Keith looked around, hands clenching.

"All around." Silvacea's laugh rattled through the darkness. "Tick tock, Keith. I can care about you as much as I want, but I can't stop my own infection from spreading."

"How the fuck do I stop you?" Keith growled.

"You can't win that easily." Another grating laugh. "Sleep well, sweetheart."

Keith gasped, his eyes snapping open. He had somehow rolled off his bed onto the floor and coughed up moonflowers and blood all over his sheets.

"Fucking great."

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #LanceKnows
> 
> How is this going to impact the narrative, hm?


End file.
